COLUMBUS, Ohio — Most 13-year-olds spend their free time on homework, friends and after-school activities.

But for Carsyn Todd, much of that time has gone into writing and publishing a book that’s inspiring kindness in her community.

What You Need To Know

  • Carsyn Todd, a 13-year-old from Columbus, wrote and published a book called ‘Young Heroes, Big Hearts’, to encourage small acts of kindness every week

  • Despite balancing school, friends and gymnastics practice, Carsyn worked closely with her publisher to make the book a reality

  • Carsyn hopes her book will inspire other kids to practice kindness and plans to become a teacher, forever cherishing the feeling of holding her finished book for the first time

Carsyn’s book, “Young Heroes, Big Hearts,” began as a kindness journal, a way to encourage small acts of kindness every week.

“I saw a lot of people at school being mean,” she said. “And I was like, ‘What’s the point of this? How can we change this and make this better?’”

She came up with the idea of the book, filling it with different acts of kindness prompts, all while balancing school, friends and gymnastics practice.

“Every other week I talked to my publisher,” Carsyn said. “She’d give me homework, like what font I wanted, what color, and how I wanted the setup in the book.”

Her mom, Debbie Todd, helped keep the process moving forward.

“Part of this journey too is knowing that diagnoses don’t define you,” Debbie said. “Carsyn has ADHD, so we had to adjust. When we would do different tasks, she had to come up with different quotes. We could only do so many at a time because her brain was like, ‘I’m done.’”

Debbie said she’s watched her daughter’s confidence grow through the project.

“It’s given her more confidence and more trust in herself that she can do things, more of a voice,” she said.

Carsyn hopes her book will inspire other kids to look for opportunities to be kind.

“I hope everyone sees it and looks for something to be kind about instead of just walking past,” she said.

She plans to become a teacher and said she’ll never forget holding the finished book for the first time.

“It was the best feeling,” she said. “I looked at it and I was like, wait, this is what I’ve been wanting the entire time.”

For Carsyn, one act of kindness at a time can add up to something much bigger.